Tag Archives: commerce

RapLeaf, the site dedicated to helping people to trust one another, is based in California. Of course.

Being from the Golden State myself, it makes perfect sense to me that this is where they would come up with such an idea, to “help” people trust each other. Here in North Carolina, where I am currently in residence, if you told someone that before they do business, they should get advice from an online reputation rating site, they would most likely chuckle and look puzzled. What a crazy idea. Citizens of this area, why, they’ve done business with the same people their whole lives. If they needed a new service, they’d talk to their friends and get a recommendation.

It’s only in a place like California, in the Wild West, where the cowboys roam and the gold diggers are ready to stab you in the back, that they would suffer such a crisis of untrustworthiness.

And what is the solution? Not get to know your neighbor better, not develop a face-to-face network of trustworthy humans, not conduct the bulk of your commerce with people in the real world, not guard against losing yourself in the online capitalist free-for-all. No, just log on to a self-appointed reputation judging site and let them decide for you! After all, the members of the team have stellar ratings themselves! So of course they are trustworthy!.

I’m up to a rating of 12, not sure how. That’s 12 out of a million, don’t forget. So, honestly, trust me, you shouldn’t believe a thing I say.